This beautiful new presentation of Henry David Thoreau's classic work is enhanced with an essay by Thoreau biographer Robert Richardson and elegant watercolors by Lincoln Perry. Originally delivered as a lecture by Thoreau shortly before his death, it is an ode to autumn not as the season of death and decay, but of ripeness, fullness, and maturity, and there is no better writing on the subject of fall color. Thoreau had hoped one day to turn it into an illustrated book called October, or Autumnal Tints. Richardson delves into the events and relationships influencing Thoreau's philosophy, while Perry illuminates the fall colors he described so ecstatically.